This invention relates to a manipulatable puzzle for manipulation by a player of the type comprising a puzzle body defining a plurality of tracks on the puzzle body along which elements mounted on the track can move in a row, the tracks having at least one point of intersection with the other tracks so that an element on one track can move onto the others of the tracks to change the pattern therebetween.
Examples of puzzles of this type are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,452,454 (Greene); 5,074,562 (Green); and 4,484,744 (Gmunder).
In each of these arrangements the tracks are arranged on an outside surface of a sphere with the tracks lying in radial planes of the sphere mutually at right angles. This provides two points of intersection between each track and each of the other tracks giving a total of six points of intersection. The elements are in the form of tiles which lie edge to edge and slide longitudinally of the tracks. In Green and Gmunder, the tiles are formed in different colors with the spherical body having associated different colors so that the tiles can be moved into required patterns from an initial random arrangement to "solve" the puzzle.
These devices have not up till now been significantly successful on the marketplace.